Strawberries
by TheWeaselette
Summary: Terry Boot accidentally takes some Amortentia. Now Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein must find him and stop him before he makes a fool out of himself. But, Terry's somewhere in Hogsmeade and the boys just keep getting sidetracked...


**A/N: All right, this was written for the Amortentia challenge at HPFC. I hope you enjoy it!**

**Strawberries**

Terry Boot, Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein were relaxing in the Ravenclaw common room. Terry was reading a book, namely 'The Merchant of Venice', while Michael and Anthony were playing chess.

"Do I smell strawberries?" Terry asked suddenly, raising his head and sniffing the air.

Michael smiled and exchanged a glance with Anthony.

"You and your strawberries, Terry... Hold on, I think I've got some in my trunk."

Michael left upstairs for the dormitories. Terry got up and started pacing the room, all the while trying to smell those phantom strawberries. Anthony raised one eyebrow.

"Terry, mate, what are you doing?" he asked, watching Terry climb the couch. Terry closed his eyes.

"I'm telling you, Tony, there are strawberries somewhere around here," he said.

He walked over to the library, then to the fireplace.

"There!" he exclaimed, pointing to a bottle filled with a red liquid, which was resting on a table nearby.

He quickly walked by to the table and drank the contents of the bottle in one gulp. Anthony sighed.

"Terry, what did we say about drinking other peoples' drinks?" he asked.

Terry grinned.

"But, Tony, it had _strawberries_! You know how much I love them! Well, I'm off to find Lisa," he said, walking out of the common room.

Anthony shook his head, confused.

"Lisa...?"

At that moment, Michael came downstairs with a small bowl filled with strawberries in his hand.

"Where'd he go?" he asked.

Anthony shrugged.

"He said something about going to look for Lisa and he left before I could question him."

Michael grumbled and placed the bowl on a table. He sat down and they continued their chess game.

A few minutes later, their friends, Su Li and Padma Patil walked into the common room, looking worried. Su started looking for something under the tables, while Padma approached Michael and Anthony.

"You two haven't seen a bottle around here? It was filled with Amortentia."

Michael shook his head, but Anthony paled.

"Um, what was it again?" he asked in a small voice.

Padma rolled her eyes.

"Amortentia, Tony, a love potion. You're one of the 'Three Geniuses'; I would've expected you to know that."

Michael seemed worried.

"You didn't see it, did you, Tony?" he asked.

"Well, Terry might've... drunk it?" Anthony replied.

Padma's jaw dropped and Su accidentally hit her head on a table.

"What?" asked Michael. "How could you let Terry drink Amortentia?"

Anthony got up quickly.

"I didn't know what it was!" he replied in a panicky voice. "I have an 'Acceptable' in Potions!"

Su placed her head in her hands.

"That was Lisa's extra-credit assignment for Slughorn! What's she supposed to do now?"

Michael smiled sadly.

"I think that's the least of her problems now, Su. What are we supposed to do with Kevin?"

Padma and Su looked at him, confused, but Anthony groaned.

"Of course, Kevin and Lisa are dating! Damn it, how will we explain the fact that Terry is suddenly in love with her?"

"We have to warn them!" said Su. "Padma and I shall look for Lisa and Kevin, while you two idiots look for Terry."

Michael and Anthony nodded. Padma and Su left the common room quickly and Michael turned to Anthony.

"This is all your fault, you know that, right?" he asked, visibly annoyed.

Anthony raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, Terry has an 'Outstanding' in Potions. You'd expect him to be more careful."

They walked out of the common room.

"Any idea where he might be?" asked Michael.

Anthony stopped dead.

"Hogsmeade," he muttered.

"What?"

"Hogsmeade. It's a Hogsmeade weekend."

Michael groaned.

"Can this get any worse?"

They ran to the front door of the castle.

"Michael, m'boy!" came a loud voice from behind them.

"Yes, yes it can..." Michael muttered.

They turned around to face an enormous, walrus-like man.

"Hello, Professor Slughorn!" Michael greeted the man in his most polite voice.

"Where are you headed?" Slughorn asked. "Hogsmeade, perhaps? I was just about to go there myself. Where's young Terrence?"

Anthony answered instead of Michael.

"Professor, we were actually going to the library. We're not sure where Terry is, we'll let you know if we see him."

Slughorn seemed disappointed.

"Oh, all right, off you go, then!"

The boys started walking towards the library.

"Thanks, mate," said Michael. "Better wasting a few minutes than going to Hogsmeade with Slughorn."

When they entered the library, a small owl swooped from the ceiling, startling them and all the other students there.

"That's Akshar, Padma's owl!" shouted Anthony.

Michael took a small piece of parchment that was tied to the owl's leg.

"It says: _We couldn't find them anywhere. Have you two had any luck_?"

He walked over to Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who seemed to be doing their homework.

"Hey, can I borrow a quill?" he asked.

Ernie raised his head and nodded.

"Yes, yes of course, Michael," he said, handing over his strange peacock quill to Michael.

Michael sat down and started writing in the parchment. A few moments later, he got up and tied the piece of parchment to Akshar's leg. The small owl hooted happily and flew away.

"I told them we were about to go to Hogsmeade," Michael said upon seeing Anthony's questioning glance.

The two of them walked out of the library and started going to the front door once again. They were met by Filch and his Secrecy Sensor, but he was forced to let them go, as they had nothing illegal in possession. When they arrived at Hogsmeade, they started walking towards the 'Three Broomsticks'.

"Hey, you two!" said a voice behind them.

It was Wayne Hopkins, a Hufflepuff neither of them wished to see at the moment.

"Hello, Wayne," Michael replied dully.

"Listen, Wayne, we're in a hurry, so..." Anthony started speaking.

"Whoa, hold your horses, Goldstein!" Wayne replied in his usual haughty tone. "I was simply wondering if you would like to join me at the 'Hog's Head'."

This time, it was Michael who answered instead of Anthony.

"Tony would love to join you, but some other time. Like he said, we're in a hurry."

Wayne shrugged his shoulders in a helpless manner and replied, "As you wish."

He took a small bow and walked away. Michael shook his head in disbelief.

"What a walking stereotype," he muttered.

Anthony smiled.

"Do y'think he'll ever stop hitting on straight guys?" he asked.

"He'll flirt with everything that moves," Michael replied. "Although, I was sure he had a thing for Dean Thomas."

Anthony grinned and turned around.

"Oi, Wayne!" he shouted after the retreating blond boy.

Wayne turned around and smirked.

"Change your mind already, Goldilocks? I know I'm gorgeous, but still..."

Anthony rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I was going to propose you ask Dean Thomas. I'm sure he'll be happy to join you."

For the first time, something that resembled a faint blush appeared on Wayne's cheeks.

He cleared his throat loudly and replied, "Thomas is dating Ginny Weasley. That's one girl I have no intention of getting angry. Now, goodbye!"

He walked away again, leaving a shocked Michael and a grinning Anthony.

"Nice one, Tony!" Michael said in awe. "That'll teach him a lesson. I don't think I've ever seen Hopkins so embarrassed."

"Apparently, Dean Thomas is his Achilles' heel," Anthony replied with a grin on his face.

They continued walking towards the 'Three Broomsticks', when they heard yet another voice behind them.

"Hey, Michael, Anthony!"

They turned around to see Cho Chang, Michael's girlfriend.

"Hey, Cho," Michael said weakly.

"So, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Looking for Terry," answered Anthony. "He accidentally took some love potion."

Cho grimaced.

"That's terrible!" she said. "Well, I have to study for my N.E.W.T.s, so excuse me. Tell me what happened later, all right?"

She gave Michael a peck on the cheek and left. The boys entered the 'Three Broomsticks', but saw no sign of Terry. After that, they walked over to the 'Hog's Head', where they saw Wayne chatting with the Gryffindor Beater, Andrew Kirke. They also saw their housemate, Sarah Fawcett, who was kissing her boyfriend, John Stebbins. Michael sighed as he and Anthony exited the pub.

"How about we check Madam Puddifoot's?" asked Anthony.

Michael let out a whimper of annoyance.

"I hate that bloody place," he mumbled.

They walked over to the café and saw, with great relief, that Terry wasn't there. Suddenly, they heard a loud noise behind them.

"_How do I love thee? Let me count the ways_..."

The boys immediately recognised Terry's voice. Horrified, they ran to find him.

Terry was standing on a wooden box in the middle of the street, reciting a poem to a very confused Lisa Turpin, why her boyfriend, Kevin Entwhistle, stood beside her, extremely surprised and seemingly angry.

"He's doing Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Tony!" said Michael. "We're too late!"

Anthony ran over to Kevin and Lisa.

"Don't worry, Kev, he's under the influence of Amortentia, he's not really in love with her."

Kevin exhaled in relief.

"Good, I was starting to get worried," he muttered.

"I knew I should've handed over that potion when I first brewed it!" said Lisa worriedly. "This is all my fault!"

Michael and Anthony both grabbed Terry, while Kevin took Lisa's hand. Terry suddenly let out a strange, screeching sound and jumped away from his best friends.

"You foul dog!" he shouted at Kevin. "How dare you touch my lady! You dirty mongrel! Filthy swine!"

With that, he jumped on Kevin and punched him. Michael, Anthony and Stephen Cornfoot lunged themselves at Terry to stop him. Kevin had a black eye when they dragged Terry away.

"You take care of Kevin," Michael said to Stephen, "and we'll take this idiot to Slughorn or Snape."

~0~0~0~

Later that evening, Terry sat in an armchair by the fire, his face buried in his hands.

"How could I have been so stupid, not to recognise Amortentia?" he wondered aloud. "So ignorant, so idiotic... How?"

Michael and Anthony patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, Terry, all's well that ends well," said Anthony.

"Yeah," added Michael. "You want to tell us what you smelt?"

Terry thought for a few moments, before answering, "Well, strawberries, obviously, Tony's coconut shampoo and your cologne."

Anthony and Michael exchanged a look.

"I guess that means I love you guys more than anything," Terry finished.

They were silent for a few minutes, before Michael reached out and grabbed a small bowl from a table.

"So, strawberries, anyone?"


End file.
